The Charge

Opening Statement

This July, I sat in on a Doctor Who panel in Hall H at San Diego
Comic-Con. True, I watched a screen, not the live people, and couldn't get the
whole picture of the scene, which I took to include a lot of fezes and bow ties
(I'd seen quite a few coming in, just not all at once). Thus, the experience was
a little like radio, creating pictures in my mind more than anything else.
Still, I was there -- for DVD Verdict, but also for the mere experience of being
in Hall H.

It's also a place where you could walk into a lobby and see Mrs. Emma Peel
just standing there. That's stunning, in multiple senses of the word. You might
not be impressed if you didn't watch The Avengers, but a silent
Gatchaman villain, a Legend of Zelda heroine, or a sea of fezes
and bow ties might have had the same effect for you.

San Diego Comic-Con is a phenomenon so big that, according to Kevin Smith,
even his mother has heard of it. It's one I had to experience after six or seven
years of thinking about it. The documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's
Hope (directed by Morgan Spurlock, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold),
concentrates on celebrities and rising talent, but does also show some of the
costumes, crowds, and carnies.

Facts of the Case

San Diego Comic-Con brings something like 140,000 people (a number that I'd
guess includes professionals, press, staff, and volunteers) into a relatively
small space each July to stand in line and perhaps eventually hear about movies,
TV shows, video games, web series, books, science fiction, and even comics.

Among those people in 2010 were two aspiring artists, a promising costume
designer, a comic shop owner who was in the midst of a bad year, a collector
seeking a Galactus, and a man who plotted to propose to his beloved at the Con.
Director Morgan Spurlock had a crew of 160 people shooting A Fan's Hope,
capturing all the pageantry.

The Evidence

There are lots of shots of the crowd; the first thing shown at
Comic-Con is, naturally, a line. However, Morgan Spurlock doesn't try to capture
the charivari atmosphere. Instead, he makes Comic-Con a people story about those
who submit art for review, join the Masquerade, scavenge for rare toys or
comics, or try to sneak away from a long line to pick up the engagement
ring.

Combined with celebrities like Kevin Smith and Paul Dini, who can tell
viewers what the Comic-Con was like back in the old days (it dates back to 1970,
as black-and-white photos show), the film presents a warm picture of the event.
Sure, you'll see clips of panels with stars like Angelina Jolie or Harrison
Ford, but Spurlock actually picks up the threads of the Comic-Con's roots,
giving the huge event the insider feel that Dini said it had when he started
out. As he gives viewers a rooting interest -- and a few stories with happy
endings -- Spurlock finds the small event inside the huge one. There's not much
actual history, but he gives you a feel of what Comic-Con used to be like.

There are some fancy filmic tricks with slow and fast motion, but Spurlock
doesn't overdo them. He also does a good job of profiling the people he follows,
with moments such as an artist's goodbye to his family before he heads into the
largest crowd he's faced in his life or the first demonstration of an
animatronic puppet head.

The extras include interviews aplenty: Kevin Smith talks about the Con's
growing size; Ellen Page describes going through the exhibit hall unrecognized
in disguise; Felicia Day describes her own "geeking out" experience; and Harry
Knowles talks about his father's involvement in a comic shop and conventions, to
name a few. There are also deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes peek, and a
trailer, plus a DVD cover that features some of the people seen in comic book
form.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

You do get heavy hitters talking about their Comic-Con and comics
experiences, but a lot of fans will long for a commentary with the people --
like Stan Lee and Joss Whedon -- who joined Morgan Spurlock in this
production.

Closing Statement

When Kevin Smith started going to San Diego Comic-Con in the prehistoric
'90s, he bought comic books he couldn't find anywhere else; today you can
probably get them online. Still, foot traffic halts to a standstill for a few
days each year in San Diego. I'm not sure if that will last forever, but I'm
glad I went while the charivari is still in session.

Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope doesn't bring viewers the entire
history and scope of San Diego Comic-Con; Morgan Spurlock would need two
sequels, at least, for that. Instead, he shows that the event still has a solid
core of intense passion for comics, something that you might notice during hours
spent in line.